Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and Robert Kraft release joint statement calling recent report of a power struggle within the franchise 'unsubstantiated' and 'flat out inaccurate'

Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and Robert Kraft released a joint statement calling an ESPN report about the New England Patriots' organization "unsubstantiated, highly exaggerated or flat out inaccurate."

The statement comes in the wake of ESPN's report describing power struggles between the trio.

The statement does not reference any specific allegations as being inaccurate.

Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and New England Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft released a joint statement on Friday, claiming that all is well with their relationship in the wake of ESPN's bombshell report detailing an apparent power struggle between the trio.

In the statement, Belichick, Brady, and Kraft accuse the report of containing "speculated theories that are unsubstantiated, highly exaggerated or flat out inaccurate" and claims that the three of them "stand united" and "share a common goal."

"For the past 18 years, the three of us have enjoyed a very good and productive working relationship. In recent days, there have been multiple media reports that have speculated theories that are unsubstantiated, highly exaggerated or flat out inaccurate. The three of us share a common goal. We look forward to the enormous challenge of competing in the postseason and the opportunity to work together in the future, just as we have for the past 18 years. It is unfortunate that there is even a need for us to respond to these fallacies. As our actions have shown, we stand united."

The Patriots' leadership does not refute any specific claims contained in the ESPN report, opting instead to point at the totality of the story.

Their statement also lines up with Wickersham's story, as the only statement that the franchise would contribute to his report was equally vague.

"The Patriots, in the only statement anyone associated with the team would make on the record for this story, responded to specific questions by saying that there are 'several inaccuracies and multiple examples given that absolutely did not occur,' though they declined to go into detail."

According to Wickersham, his reporting was based on "interviews with more than a dozen New England staffers, executives, players and league sources with knowledge of the team's inner workings."